Wild Force: Genesis

by David Knight

Ever wonder what the other Wild Force Rangers went though before meeting Cole? What did Master Org do during that time as well? This is my take on what I believe happened.

Disclaimer: Power Rangers Wild Force doesn't belong to me. The show and its characters are all the property of Disney. The show 24 and its characters are the property of Fox Entertainment. Any character that is not a part of either show belongs to me. This story is set time wise one year before Lionheart for Wild Force, making this be just around the same time that Time Force started in the year 2001, and two years before the first season of 24. This happens to be my own interpretation of how Taylor became the Yellow Eagle Ranger. It's somewhat different from what was done on the show, but I am proud of what I have written and I hope you will enjoy it.

Eaglewings
By: David Knight

"Alright Lt. Earhardt you are go for lift off."

"Rodger." Taylor Earhardt said through her flight mask as she took her F18 up into the air. She looked over to the side to a place on control panel where she had two pictures tagged up. One was of her mother and her when she was eight. The other was of her and her four friends in her fighter squadron.

However, to her dismay she found a note taped on the left side and just recently. 'We want your answer and we want it soon.'

_God can't he and the witch let me live my own life? I am twenty-two for crying out loud!_ Taylor thought. _Wasn't joining the Air Force enough for him? If it weren't for the jets I would have never signed on. I could do better working in a federal agency than with the army especially with jerks that pass screw jocks over me for promotions._ Taylor's father was an army military general while her mother was a navy captain. Both of them had divorced soon as she had gone off to college but they had used their influence to make her drop out after her sophomore year and then enlist in the military. She chose the Air Force was the only army branch that interested her at all. She didn't care much for the military. Fact of the matter was even though she accepted military code and conduct as part of how she acted, she was sick of it being a constant domination in her life.

_At least Kim has a better family life even if she doesn't realize it._ Taylor decided. She let a small smile cross her face as she thought about her cousin Kimberly Bauer. Kimberly's father, her Uncle Jack, was an agent in CTU (Counter Terrorist Unit) and even though he kept his family out of his work circle they were still together.

"Me... I got a father who hardly cares about me as a person and a wicked stepmother who thinks she is my mother and can do whatever she wants. Just someone they want to groom as their own prodigy. Is that what I am to them? Their legacy?" Taylor sighed. She wanted to do something with her life rather than just stay stuck in state she called living. She wanted to get out of her gilded cage and be as free as birds to live her own life. She then pulled out of her flight suit something she had had since she was ten years old.

It was a topaz colored spherical gem. Inside the gem she could see the shape of an eagle. She didn't know what it meant. All she knew was that was important to her and that's why she kept it. It was all that she had left of her real mother.

The stepmother from hell was anything but kind.

* * *

"Ahh!" an eleven-year old blonde haired girl cried out as an enraged woman in navy dress slapped her across the face.

"You slacker!" the woman hissed, "You are spending to much time with those deadbeat friends and your grades are slipping! How bad do you think thinks will be for you in the future!"

"Leave my sister alone you witch!" Taylor remembered herself saying, but back then she was only fourteen. No match for that woman from hell who slapped her down to the ground.

"You disobedient brat!" the stepmother hissed, "Stay out of this! I am doing this for her own good!"

"She didn't do anything wrong!" Taylor cried out but the woman pulled Taylor up by the shirt and against the wall. She slapped Taylor again in the face. Twice.

"I have told you never to talk back to me," the woman growled, "Your father Taylor would be very disappointed in you."

"My dad isn't alright with you here. He hasn't been since you came in to our lives," Taylor growled.

"Well you should get used to me. I am your mother now," the woman said with a smile, one that faded with Taylor's defiance.

"You aren't a mother. You are a witch and my mommy is heaven!" Taylor said flat out. "Why don't you go away!"

The woman was angered by this and threw Taylor down to the ground. She pulled her belt out and then decided to let Taylor have it by whipping her against her back. When Taylor screamed, the woman seemed to have a smile on her face.

"Stop!" Kristen cried out, "I promise I'll study harder! Please don't hit my sister again!"

The stepmother brought Taylor up on her feet before throwing her into a couch before glaring at Kristen with the belt in her hands. "If you don't, I'll have to punish both of you. Am I clear?"

"Yes... yes ma'am..." Kristen stuttered.

"Go get cleaned up before your father gets home," she ordered to the two sisters before leaving them along. Kristen ran right to her older sister when the woman was gone.

"Taylor...why did daddy have to like that witch?" Kristen asked with tears in her eyes.

"I don't know Kristen. I don't know," Taylor shook her head as she held her sister tight.

"I miss mommy," Kristen sobbed.

"I miss her too..." Taylor replied back, "Some day though, I'm going to get out of this place. Fly as high as I can, above all of these people, I'll see what mom sees."

"Can we do that?" Kristen asked.

"I hope so," Taylor said as she smiled at Kristen, "Just know, I will always be there for you little sister. Always."

* * *

Taylor shook her head out of that reverie. The woman in question was a witch she could have lived with out for the last eight years but she didn't know what she'd do without Kristen. She was the last of her immediate family.

She didn't know what her father thought any more. She couldn't believe how much leeway he gave that woman. It infuriated her so much that she just could do anything she wanted to them almost and he didn't care at all. What kind of man was he? What happened when mom died that made him like this?

Sighing, Taylor pulled her thoughts away from that path and went back to looking at her scopes and continuing flying. However after nearly an hour, she had about had it. _Well this is getting really boring. I better turn around and head back to..._

*SCREECH!!!*

"What the?!" Taylor froze as she heard the sound and turned her head around trying to find out what that sound was. She could have sworn some sort of blur had gone into the clouds and it was yellow. Taking her plane into the direction she thought she saw the anomaly go in, she went through the clouds... and couldn't believe what she saw.

A giant floating island in the sky in the shape of a giant turtle.

_That... this is impossible! Norad or UNIT or NASADA should have picked this up a long time ago if it was in our air space! Just what is it!_ Taylor felt her heart racing as she asked herself those questions. But now curiosity was getting the better of her. Just what was this flying island that she saw and what was on it. Taylor smiled. _Just this once I'll break protocol and not call anyone. I want to see this place for myself!_

Piloting toward the floating island, Taylor had no idea what she was getting into but she had a feeling she would learn soon enough.

* * *

The Nexus.

No one knows exactly what it is. Some say its a realm of power, others believe it is the supreme holy power incarnate. In reality, it is what has kept a race of beings sealed away for three thousand years a race that took over the run of the planet when the Demon Race ruled by Queen Bansheera was sealed away five thousand years ago.

The walls cracked and a force came as a form of energy though the cracks. It left its resting place and started to restore parts of the Nexus, starting to reform it back into what it once was.

A long figure walked into the Nexus. He was covered in brown cloths and held a staff in his hands. However most noticeably about him was his pale skin color and green yellow eyes... all three of them and finally the horn that came through his forehead. He raised his staff and then teleported back to the place that had been the home of his people for ages. "So. None of the Duke Orgs have returned yet. I find it strange they would not have sensed my power... but I do not have need for them just yet. My suffering has gone on long enough. The human race has made my suffering unbearable... and I will make them feel it a thousand fold! The Org race will have its revenge... so swears the Master Org!"

The Lord of the Orgs laughed as he felt a minor minion come back to life. Even a minor minion would be more than enough to kill an entire city before being put down by any one no matter how advanced this human race was now. He wondered how the Org would deal with the humans of the present but thought that the end result would still be the same.

The Orgs would prevail.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the floating island Taylor had landed on, in a temple that had stone statues of animals in it, someone had just felt the return of the Orgs. A young woman with long brown hair, a circlet of roses on her head and wore a white flowing gown. She sighed. "So the Orgs have now broken free... then it is time to start to find those that will become the new protectors of the earth. Ones that have been chosen."

She wasn't sure where to start until she felt the stirring of a soul. She let a smile cross her face. "Why does that not surprise me that the soul of the chosen of the Wind would be the first to be found? Both wish to fly from the gilded cages that confine them." the woman raised her hand. "It's time." She knew the soul was already on the island. All she had to do now was wait for her to come.

* * *

Taylor had found a clear path that acted like a runway for her to land her plane down. She had no way of explaining it. As if it had magically be made for her. "Dad always said there was no such thing as magic... oh if I could only see his face if he saw this place. It was be priceless." she chuckled. After taking some time to explore the jungle that she now found herself in she came across an ancient looking temple.

To her surprise, the door of the temple then slid open and out walked the woman in white from before. "I mean you no harm. I am Princess Shayla and this..." she expressed by motioning all around with her hands. "... this is the Animarium. You have been chosen to save the world and stop the evil of the Orgs."

"The Orgs?" Taylor blinked, "Who... or what are the Orgs?"

"Three thousand years ago, there were dark and terrifying creatures that were thought by many people who lived during those times to be gods. They were called Orgs. The reason why they were thought to be gods was because their power far surpassed that of normal humans." Shayla explained, "The Orgs hated humans and all that is good. Their very lives were focused on nothing less than wiping out all of humanity. Their power was too great and were nearly able to conquer the world at one time, until a group of powerful warriors like yourselves were chosen to seal them away in the center of the Earth in the Earth's Nexus."

"And how exactly did they escape?" Taylor asked.

"The Earth's Nexus was fully secure by a ground barrier, until recent development in scientists experiments in the Earth's crust has allowed the ground barrier to be corrupted. With power of the Orgs at work, the barrier has been destroyed. They have been waiting for a way to escape back to the surface. And now... they have."

Taylor just folded her arms across her chest. "You honestly expect me to believe this kind of story. It's too much of a wild tale and even if it were true why was I chosen then and why did you choose me?"

"I did not choose you." Shayla smiled pointing behind her.

"What? Well if you didn't then who..." Taylor said as she turned around and found herself staring up a giant yellow eagle. She just stood their looking into its red eyes as it landed. She thought she would feel fear when this creature approached her but she didn't. All she felt was if a part of herself was in this bird. That it was part of her soul. She put her hand on the eagle's head once it lowered and rubbed his head. The eagle made a sound that said he was pleased.

"You have been chosen by the Soaring Eagle." Shayla said with her smile still on her face. "He has chosen you to become a member of the Power Rangers Wild Force."

Taylor just stared at Shayla. _A Power Ranger?!_ She was no stranger to the history of the Power Rangers. The Space Rangers and the Lightspeed Rangers were the most well known and publized of all the ranger teams that the earth had ever known. And now here she was being asked to be a Ranger herself. She then pulled out the topaz sphere and saw it was now even brighter. "The gem... its of the eagle, isn't it?"

Shayla nodded. "This was yours always. As it is also your right to become the Yellow Eagle Ranger."

"The Yellow Eagle Ranger... I like the sound of that." Taylor said. It was then that the eagle screeched and then Shayla turned back to the temple with Taylor following her. "What's going on?"

"Look into the sacred waters." Shayla said as it showed a creature that resembled a pressure cooker.

"What in the world is that?" Taylor asked Shayla.

"That is an Org. The Orgs are essentially sprits now but they can possess inanimate objects and use it as a base to form new bodies. However once these bodies are destroyed, they are of no threat to us." Shayla said. "The weapons of your world will have no effect on it. You are the only one that has a chance to stop it. Are you willing to fight?"

Taylor just thought it over in her head for a moment before saying, "All my life I've had chose between what my father wanted for me. No one ever gave me a chance to refuse an option handed to me," she looked eye to eye with Shayla. "What do I have to do?"

Shayla went to a chest that she kept hidden in the temple. She took something out of it and placed it in Taylor's hand. It was a gold colored cell phone with black highlights. "That is your Growl Phone." Shayla opened it up for Taylor and then pointed to a button near the end. "Press this button and call out 'Wild Access!'. You will be transformed into the Yellow Eagle Ranger."

"Alright." Taylor nodded as she took the Growl Phone back. "Since that things already wrecking havoc I better morph right away." she opened her Growl Phone up again and took a deep breath. "Here goes nothing...WILD ACCESS!"

As Taylor morphed she felt the Growl Phone change formation and then felt its power start to flow through her. It was the most incredible rush she had ever felt in her life, even more incredible than going to mach three in her jet. Mere words couldn't describe what she was feeling. She then looked down at herself and saw that she was clad in the uniform of a Yellow Ranger, she had the helmet shape of the eagle and its symbol over her heart. At her side was small sword.

"On your belt is a Crystal Saber. It can be used as a weapon but it has other uses, ones you'll discover when the time comes for their need. You also have your own personal weapon, the Golden Eagle Sword." Shayla explained.

"A Yellow Ranger with a sword huh?" Taylor smirked behind her helmet.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Oh no. I'm just glad I have a real weapon. Some of the yellow rangers of the past have had weapons I really wouldn't have liked to have at all." Taylor chuckled. She started clenching her hands and then felt talons come from her fingers on both hands. "What the..."

"All of the Wild Force Rangers have talons in the gloves. Its to reflect the nature of the animal you have." Shayla replied.

"Nice. Even if I lose both of my weapons I can still fight using these talons." Taylor commented as she made her talons go back into her gloves.

"There's one more thing I have to show you," Shayla said, "Put your arms down to your sides and then bring them again."

Taylor didn't know what that was going to do but she did it anyway. She raised her arms up again she saw her suit had just gotten a set of wings. "Oh my god..."

"You have the power to fly Taylor." Shayla smiled, having a good idea on how the young woman must be feeling at that very moment.

Taylor could hardly hold her excitement. _To be able to fly... to soar like a real bird. Free of my gilded cage._ Wanting to see this for herself, she ran out of the temple and when she jumped off of the steps, she felt the wind under her. "I'm flying... I'm flying!" she laughed as she did a spin and a flip in the air. She couldn't believe how graceful and seemingly easy this was. It was as if a part of her that had been lost for so long was now finally free and had been brought to the surface.

Unfortunately, Taylor could not take the time to enjoy flying for long as she remembered that there was still an Org running amuck somewhere on the planet. Making a landing on the ground, she walked over to the Princess, "Where do I have to go to fight the Org?"

"He's in the city right below the Animarium. It is called Turtle Cove." Shayla answered her.

Taylor blinked when she heard the name of the city, "Who would give their city a name like that?"

"I don't know but that is where the Org is attacking." Shayla told her, growing worried for the innocent people that could be harmed by this Org.

"Alright then. I'll take care of it right now." Taylor said as ran off ready to go down to earth but then looked back to the Princess. "Um... exactly how do I get back down to earth? There is a way back down to the ground?"

Shayla nodded as she showed Taylor the way off the Animarium and the way back down to the surface below. As she watched Taylor go, Shayla breathed and prayed. _May the Spirits of the Wild Zords and Animus be with you Yellow Eagle Ranger._

* * *

The Org known as Jailer ran roughshod through the Turtle Cove Zoo. Using his cages and chains to capture as many animals as he could. Cages around the smaller animals, and chains around the larger ones such as the elephants and giraffes and once he had them they would be transported to a place only he knew of, for a purpose that benefited only the Orgs.

"At last! The animal spirits shall belong to the Orgs, and when Master Org returns his power will be unstoppable!" Jailer gloated. That was when he felt something swoop in and slash him with some sort of sword. Jailer was driven back and he wondered who dared to attack him. He didn't have long to wait.

For landing in front of his face was a girl in yellow. Her wings like that of an eagle, and in her left hand was a sword that looked deadly to the touch. She stood ready to fight and hoped Jailer would be happy to oblige.

"Your jailing days are over!" Taylor said defiantly.

Jailer however simply smiled cruelly, "Wow, aren't you the graceful little bird. My masters could have good use for you."

"Not interested!" Taylor stood firm as Jailer advanced.

"Oh well you see. I wasn't offering you a choice!" Jailer raised his right arm and chains protruded from his wrist. Taylor found herself bound by the chains as they wrapped around her arms and legs keeping her well in place. Jailer walked forward and stared down at Taylor. "You know, you look good like this. My masters may have a use for you. I think I can put you in a cage that I will like a lot."

As Taylor heard these words, she felt something awaken within her. A feeling of being threatened and of being imprisoned. In her mind she saw so many people putting chains on her. Her father, her stepmother, her superior officers; All of them holding her down, turning her in their directions. Telling her what she would do, and where she would go. Giving her no choice but the path laid down before her.

No freedom. Like a bird in a gilded cage. And upon that realization the spirit of the Eagle rose within her.

"NO! NEVER AGAIN!!! NEVER AGAIN!!!" Taylor tried to focus all of her will power into her flight and tried to lift herself off the ground.

Jailer soon found himself being dragged across the sky like a mad water skier trying to keep his balance. The sound of "Whoa! WHOA!!!" was heard across the sky as Taylor tried to shake herself free of Jailer and his chains. The more she flew, the more the chains started to give some slack, and soon Taylor was able to shake herself free of them.

"FREE! FREE!!!" she shouted as she swooped around ready to give Jailer the last strike. Her Golden Eagle Sword drawn as Jailer started to fall towards the ground. Jailer may have been falling fast but Taylor was racing faster. "There will be no jail time for you!" she shouted as she then delivered her sword strike.

The sword cut right through Jailer and by the time she had landed the explosion that signified the end of a monster happened right on cue. Taylor then landed and saw the animals Jailer had taken magically returned to their pens. Taylor looked at them and felt a mix of sorrow and happiness. Happiness because the animals were free from the Orgs, but she felt sadness because they had escaped from one prison only to be returned to another.

"I guess it could be worse." She said to herself. "Something tells me the Org's prisons would have been much worse." She looked at her hands and the gloves that signified a part of her Ranger uniform. She looked down at the whole uniform and realized something important. How much she valued her freedom.

All her life she had her choices made out for her. She was railroaded into choices others wanted. And even though she had some freedom of choice, she was still little more than a bird in a cage. Imprisoned, forced down a road planned by others. No real choice given in her life. And now, for the first time in her life, she felt free.

Her battle with Jailer had been symbolic to her. Not only did she feel like she had shaken off Jailer's chains, but she felt as if the chains that restrained her were shaken off as well. She had choices to make, and she was going to make them.

Taylor Earhardt, Yellow Eagle Ranger, activated her wings again and flew back to the floating island.

Free as a bird.

* * *

Back at the Nexus, Master Org was not pleased. _A Ranger of the Wild. How troublesome..._ he shrugged. "But it will not matter. For she is just one while my army will be made up of thousands. She cannot hope to stop them all by herself and with every passing moment my power gets stronger and stronger and so does the power of the Org. I will have this world!" his laughter echoed as he planned on for the future.

* * *

Shayla greeted Taylor when she returned to the Animarium. "I'm glad you are alright."

"Princess Shayla, I want to thank you... for this." Taylor said as she held up the crystal orb and her Growl Phone. "This really is what I was truly meant for. But right now I have to get back to the air base before I'm missed that long. I can only wonder what's going to happen when I get back.

"I have to warn you Taylor. The Animarium is shielded from all forms of detection. By now I would assume they would have noticed you went off of their tracking scopes." Shayla told her.

"And when I get back they going to wonder where I was." Taylor said.

"What will you do?" Shayla asked.

"I can't stay here forever." Taylor replied as she went over to her jet. "I'm going to face the music."

She took off and Shayla prayed that her new Ranger would be all right.

So did the Eagle.

* * *

Taylor didn't even pay attention to the Major that was running his jaw off. She remembered him from flight school. He had failed all of his exams and yet he had made it to a Major in the Air Force simply because his father was a senator and had lots of connections. _This makes what now? The fourth hardass they have sent in here trying to figure out where the heck I was?_ She and Shayla had been right. The Air Force had noticed she had gone off of their radar and now they were interrogating her as if she was some sort of criminal wondering where she had been for the last hour. She wasn't about to tell them the truth."

"Hey you!" the Major grabbed her by the collar. "We are all getting sick and tired of your little game her so cut the crap and tell us where the hell you were!"

"I told you. I don't know what you are talking about. I just spent an extra hour doing some practice runs in the air zone. Its not my fault your equipment lost track of me. Instead of blaming this on me why don't you trying seeing about communications on this end malfunctioning." Taylor suggested.

"I said talk you stupid broad!" the Major ordered as he slapped Taylor across her face.

_This is what I am doing for my country? Taking the abuse of a man like this who is my 'superior'?!_ "Oh screw this." Taylor growled as she then kneed the man in the groin and then cleaned clocked him with a shot to the head. He crumpled to the ground. Immediately MP guards flooded the room and pointed guns at her while others picked up the major. "Oh this is getting very ridiculous. By the way you all are acting you would think I am some sort of criminal!"

Just then the door opened up and then she saw an older man wearing a green army uniform signifying he was a General. He had a mustache and dark brown hair.

He was also her father. General Thomas Earhardt.

"Hello Taylor..." The man said, walking slowly over to where she was, "...do you have anything you want to say to me?"

"Not at all... General." Taylor said sticking to protocol. "As I have told the last five interrogators I have no idea what happened or why your equipment failed to keep radar lock on me. In fact I have no idea why I am being treated like a criminal here. Don't we have better things to do to spend the taxpayers money instead of interrogating an innocent person such as myself?"

The general sighed, "Taylor... It's quite possible you may be able to fool others, but you and I both know that you can't fool me like that. Something happened up there, and you're keeping it hidden. But what I don't understand is why."

"I am telling you general I don't know anything at all," Taylor repeated her statement.

He looked her in the eyes hard, trying to get her to speak, "...I want to believe you, but I've known you all your life... I know how you are... I hate to say it, but you're lying and you know it."

"I am telling you General I..." Taylor started but the general slammed his hand down, his patience finally having run out, judging by how he shouted at her, "Taylor I am ordering you to tell me what the hell happened now!"

No words were spoken at all for over a minute until Taylor looked at the General in his eyes. "... or what dad? You going to slap me like that rapist of an Air Force Major that hauled out of this room feet did before you got here! A Major who flunked his damned exams in flight school but still made into the upper ranks simply because his father is the senator of Florida and a personal friend of the President!"

General Earhardt had his fists balled up as he decided to ignore what she had just said and get back to finding out where she had been, "If he did that then it will be dealt with, but that is not the point of this discussion..."

"No you are wrong because it is the point of everything!" Taylor exclaimed as she got up and slammed her hands down on the table. She stared even harder at her father as she made her case, "Ever since I was a kid you have had my entire life mapped out for me. 'Taylor, go to this private school!' 'Taylor, go play tennis!' 'Taylor, go learn how to be a gymnast!' 'Taylor, go learn how to shoot a gun!' You never let me have my own choices! My own life! Flying was the only thing I enjoyed and then you and that woman had to screw up my life further when I moved away for college!" she looked straight into her father's eyes. "Yes that's right. I know you and your wife used your influence to screw over the College Board somehow, but of course I can't prove that either! But that's not the point!" Taylor put her face even close to the general's as she let him have it. "You made me chose the one thing I loved to become an military profession... and now its becoming something dirty because of what I am seeing from all of this idiots that get put up higher than me and its because of you and that witch! And now you are trying to force me to choose to be either in the army or the navy! Well you know what 'dad'! I chose neither!"

"And what does that mean?" the general asked but instead of answering, Taylor thrusted into his hands a set of papers. He paled when he saw them.

"My letter of resignation. I quit." Taylor said flatly as she got up and tossed her ID card into his face. "You can either arrest me or shoot me... but I am leaving. I've committed no crime and I refuse be treated like a criminal. This farce is over." she walked towards the door but the General was determined to have the last word.

"Taylor if you walk out that door you can forget ever seeing me or your sister again." General Earhardt hissed. "I will keep Kristen from ever seeing you again. I will disown you and I will cut off all of your saving accounts. You will be left with nothing!"

Taylor turned her head back and stared intensely at the general for several moments, but her hand was still on the doorknob. Finally, she turned it and opened the door. "No Mr. Earhardt. I won't have 'nothing'... I will still have my freedom. Have a nice life sir." Not even looking back Taylor walked out the door and slammed it shut.

General Thomas Earhardt could only just stare in shock at the slamming door. It took him five minutes to realize what had just happened before he just fell into the chair and just broke down realizing he had just lost his first-born child.

* * *

About an hour later, Taylor was in her quarters on the base. She was presently gathering everything that belonged to her and her alone. She had already thrown her Air Force uniforms on the bed and just left them there. She was now dressed in a yellow tank top and blue jeans. Anything that was military related was getting thrown out, while the rest was coming with her. She had made sure everything that she owned was with her always and never at her father's home, the place that had been her home for eighteen years. A place she had never liked at all. She was about to go and pack her last suitcase, when she saw someone else enter into her quarters. It was a red haired woman wearing a naval officer uniform in her late thirties, a woman that Taylor had grown to despise.

Captain Madeline Vickers Earhardt. Her stepmother.

_I had forgotten the witch was up here this weekend. Most likely to get my 'answer'._ Taylor shook her head.

"Unpack those bags right now," the captain ordered.

"Not a chance." Taylor told her as she went to continue clearing out her stuff.

"I think you'll find it hard to get very far without a car." Madeline said as she was now holding up a set of keys. "That jeep is not yours. We bought it for you."

"Yeah. You did." Taylor looked back at her for moment. "So why don't you give it to one of your servants or actually use it for yourself Captain? I don't mind walking." she went back to packing, trying to get this over and done with as soon as possible.

"You are throwing your life away with this foolishness Taylor. Where do you think you are going to go? Hmm?" the captain asked her.

"I don't know and you know I really don't care." Taylor responded as she finished packing her last suitcase and closed it. "It's better than being here being under your rules."

"Oh really?" She sneered as she threw a set of papers over to Taylor. "Read them."

Taylor did so and only confirmed what she knew. They were legal documents that declared her legally disowned from her father. His signature and her stepmother's signature were on it.

"If you keep this up, you lose everything Taylor. The last twenty-two years of your life will have meant nothing." The Captain sneered.

"I must admit, you do work fast but like I said before to the brass," Taylor said throwing the papers in the trash, "I really don't care. I'm through with this lie."

*SLAP!*

Taylor looked on at Madeline as she had just slapped her hard across her face; her ring had been purposely turned over so that when she slapped Taylor it would cut into her skin causing her cheek to bleed. "You listen to me you brat. Your father and I have always done what is best for you! Now you are going to unpack and then you are going to tell your father and me which of division of the military you will be staying in for your life! Have I made myself clear!" However, Madeline couldn't understand now while Taylor was smirking and then starting to laugh... very sinisterly.

"You have NO idea how long I have waited for this." Taylor smirked as she suddenly struck the captain in the chest with an open palm strike taking the wind out of her. She grabbed her tightly by the hair and punched her in the gut, "THAT was for trying to replace my mother!" a knee lift into her ribs, "THAT'S for being the whore that you are to seduce my father into bed just so you could marry him!" another low blow to the chest, "THAT'S for making my life and my sister Kristen's life hell while you were around!" Having enough of this, Taylor lifted the woman over her head and threw her through the wooden coffee table, her stepmother's body going right through it. "That... THAT was just for everything! I HATE YOU!!!" Taylor looked down at Madeline, who was dazed now but still coherent... barely though.

Taylor looked her dead in her eyes and said her peace, "Listen and listen well because I will say this only once. Both of my parents are dead. My real mother died when I was eight and my father died on the day she was buried. What was left was a cold-hearted man who married a stuck up psycho bitch, namely you, who I couldn't give a rat's ass if a nuke came up your ass and blew you to kingdom come. This might be not Christian like of me, but I find myself wishing you were dead, if only just to make Kristin's life better since I believe it would be if you were gone from her life. So tell your husband I consider him a stranger to me as well if he didn't hear me say that before." Without another word and carrying everything she owned, the woman known only as Taylor, as since Taylor Earhardt longer existed, just walked away from the woman that had given her so many years of hell. As she did she saw several men from the base stop by her, saw the look on her face and the bleeding cut and knew why the Captain had been put through a table.

And they were very much glad that it had happen, which is most likely why no charges were ever filed against her or why she wasn't arrested before she got off the base.

* * *

Taylor had been walking on the road for about two hours now. She was hot and tired but she didn't care. She was glad sweat was coming down her forehead.

It covered the tears that were coming from eyes.

_He never really cared for me... all I was to him was a soldier..._ Taylor sobbed. _Well... that's not my life. That's not what I want to be. I'm a Wild Force Ranger. The Yellow Eagle Ranger. That's my destiny. That's what I have chosen._ And as she looked at a sign on the highway, she also came to another conclusion. _And I do have some place to go... I hope._

Continuing to walk, Taylor kept her destination in mind.

Los Angeles.

* * *

Meanwhile at the Earhardt family home, Thomas and Madeline were thinking about what to go from here. Madeline herself was not in very good shape. Taylor had broken several of her ribs, her left arm was in a sling and her face was a mess. It did not do any good for her image.

"That little snot nosed punk... I can't believe she did this to me." Madeline growled.

"I don't believe what she did at all," Thomas shook his head, still running through the days events.

"You did the right thing Thomas. Disowning her was the right thing to do. She could have put our nation's security at..." Madeline started to say soothingly until another voice broken in.

"Save me from hearing the lies one more time you slut."

Both adults turned to face a young girl with short blonde hair wearing black pants, a white shirt and a bomber jacket. In her hands were two duffle bags.

"Where do you think you are going Kristen?" Thomas demanded.

Kristen Earhardt shook her head sadly as she looked at her father lovingly, "I love you daddy. I always will... but I won't live in this house with this abusive slut any more."

"Slut!" Madeline roared as she went up to Kristen, "I think you need to be taught..."

*WHAM!*

Madeline felt the wind knocked out of her by the palm strike her chest by Kristen who stared back at her with a snarl on her face, "You are so good at giving out punishments, lets see you take them instead for a change." She went under and gave Madeline and uppercut that sent her flying, right into the glass table that was in the living room. She soon passed out.

"Kristen!" Thomas gasped at his other daughter but she just looked back at her father was a glare that could melt steel.

"Ask yourself this dad, is what happened to mom, is having what ever you get with this abusive, power mad witch worth losing both of your daughters?" Kristen asked as she picked up her bags, "I'm going to UCLA for college. I am joining the ROTC there as well as going for my major. I can do both. Not because you want to, but because I want to be in the Air Force. And if you think you can do what you did to Taylor when she went to college, don't bother. Taylor and I worked it out so I could go to college freely without being pressured out." She closed her eyes before looking at her father once last time, "Let me know when you've straightened out your life... I love you daddy. I always will."

With that being said, Kristen walked out of the Earhardt home, got into her Ford Explorer and drove off to continue her education free of the restrictions Taylor had gone through.

As for Thomas Earhardt, as he looked as his unconscious wife, finally reached his limits and for the first time since his first wife, Diana Bauer died, he broke down completely utterly. He cried his heart out, even more than he had when Taylor had said her peace to him. Thomas looked up to the heaven and asked god how by all that was holy could this have happened to him.

God did not answer back.

* * *

Los Angeles

It was four in the morning when Jack Bauer was woken out of his bed by the constant pinging of the doorbell. _Who the hell would be coming at this hour? I've got to get back at the office in a few hours and I wanted to get some sleep. It had better be good._ he thought as he opened the door.

The last person he expected to find at that door was his own niece, soaking wet in the rain, carrying what appeared to be all of her worldly possessions in two suitcases and two duffel bags. "Taylor...?"

"I'm sorry Uncle Jack..." Taylor said feeling choked up. "I'm sorry for coming to your house this early in the morning... but I didn't know where else to go..."

"Its okay Taylor. Come on. Let's get you inside." Jack replied as he brought his niece inside along with her belongings. He was now fully awake and sleep was no longer an issue. Taylor was. "Sit on the coach please." Taylor nodded as she did just that and Jack sat next to her. "Taylor... what happened?"

"I made a choice between keeping a promise to someone or a career that was going no where fast, a stepmother that did her best to ruin my life and a father that wanted to map out my destiny." Taylor breathed. "I chose to give everything up just so I could keep my promise."

"You quit the Air Force?" Jack asked, his face did not hid the surprise it showed.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because for the first time in a very long time. I'm making my own choices. My own decisions." Taylor told him with some tears in her eyes. "... and I have been disowned so its just Taylor now."

Jack just studied her very carefully before he asked his question, "Do you regret your actions at all?"

"No... no I don't regret what I did at all." Taylor shook her head. Her eyes clear with conviction. "I did what I thought, no... what I knew was the right thing to do."

Jack then cracked a smile. "Then that is all that really matters. At least to me and what should matter to you."

"Thank you Uncle Jack." Taylor sobbed as she hugged him.

"You can stay here as long as you need to get back on your feet." Jack said to her, "And if you need a last name, I think your mother wouldn't mind taking her maiden name. I know sis wouldn't mind at all."

"I miss her a lot Uncle Jack... especially today." Taylor sighed longingly.

"I could only imagine."

"Think there is an opening part-time employees at CTU?" Taylor asked him.

Jack chuckled a little bit. "We'll see about that. For now let's take this one moment at time."

"One moment at a time huh?" Taylor smiled. "I like the sound of that."

For Taylor was a new beginning. This was her life, her real life. The life of Taylor Earhardt had been living had been nothing more than illusion. She was no better than a bird in a gilded cage having to do what others asked of her.

Now Taylor Earhardt was gone and in her place was Taylor Bauer. However, a last name did not mean as much as her own identity, something she realized she had not for a very long time. The Taylor that had been alive for twenty-two years died the moment that she found the Animarium. Whether she was Taylor Earhardt or Taylor Bauer, it didn't matter. What mattered was that she had finally broken the chains that held her back, that had kept her true self locked away.

Now she was free of her cage and able to soar as free as any other bird.

She may have lost her job, her career, and her father.

But she had her wings. She had her freedom.

And for an eagle the most important things are its wings and its freedom.

END